Lost Treasures - Where To Find Them

When you think of lost treasures, does a chest buried in the sand on some beach come to mind? Those old pirate stashes may still exist, but there are many other types of treasure, and many of them are closer to home and easier to find. Here is a look at some of the valuables that are lost and waiting to be found in a variety of ways.

Diamonds In Parking Lots

A retired couple I read about trained themselves so well, that they could tell the difference (from a distance!) between the sparkle of a diamond and bits of glass in parking lots. They took regular early morning walks in mall parking lots, getting good exercise and making a decent second income as well. This may not be the most romantic search for lost treasures, but it the kind that is accessible to most of us.

The reason the diamonds and other gem stones are there is easy to understand. As people get out of warm cars or come out of the warm mall, the temperature change causes the diamonds to pop out of their settings. This is why parking areas are one of the most common areas to lose a gem stone. It also suggests that you'll have best luck doing searching in the winter and spring. Early morning is best, when it is light out but before the cars are there.

To train your eyes, it would help if you have a loose diamond or two, and possibly other gem stones. There are always shiny bits of glass, plastic and other debris in parking lots. Place the stones near these on the ground and look at them from various angles to see if you can tell the difference. Find out what angles in relation to the sun work best. One last tip: you might want a second person just watching the diamonds, so you don't lose them during your practice.

The temperature changes your jewelry experiences getting in and out of cars and buildings cause diamonds to come loose from their settings. This makes parking lots one of the most common places that diamonds are lost.

Lost Treasures In Houses

It is natural to hide valuables in attics and basements. I once found a jar full of pennies in the attic of a house a family member had bought and was tearing down. I think I may still have some of the old coins from that jar. Other things I found up there brought me sixty dollars or so at a rummage sale. The old man who had owned the house previously died shorty after selling it, and had no family.

I just recalled that many years ago I hid some magazines in the basement of my parent's house. They are probably still there, up in the rafters on top of the heating duct. Not much value in that lost treasure yet, but maybe if someone finds them in another seventy years. It might make you wonder what was hidden in your own home if it is an old one. Why not look?

In fact, it is relatively common to find famous old books and valuable antiques in attics and basements. But don't limit the search to these places. Check spaces under stairs, garages, sheds, and under loose floorboards (this used to be a favorite hiding place). "Lost treasures" include any stashes that were forgotten or never mentioned before the person who hid them died. They are a lot more common than you might think.

For example, I saw on the news one night a story from Chicago about a lost treasure that made big money for a young couple. They had torn open the walls of their house while remodeling, and found them filled with thousands of old and valuable movie posters. They researched the history of the home and found that it had once been owned by a theater operator in the thirties.

Apparently this previous owner had been taking home all the movie posters home. He was either hiding them or, more likely, just using them to insulate his walls. At that time it was common to insulate houses with newspapers, magazines and almost anything else. In any case, time makes such things valuable, and the news story reported that the couple had sold $200,000 worth of the posters, which was less than half of what they found.

Start searching for those lost treasures. If your home has none, poke around the attic the next time you visit family members with old houses. Look under the insulation (wear gloves and a mask), in the basement and crawl spaces, and anywhere else you think something could be hidden.